Find out how popular the last name Carsten is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Carsten.

Carsten, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Carsten surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Carsten in America

Carsten is the 27869th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Carsten surname appeared 861 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Carsten.

We can also compare 2010 data for Carsten to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Carsten

The surname Carsten originated in Germany, specifically in the northern regions such as Schleswig-Holstein and Lower Saxony. It dates back to the Middle Ages, around the 12th or 13th century. The name is derived from the Old German word "karst," meaning "rocky area" or "stony ground," which suggests that the earliest bearers of this name may have lived in a rocky or mountainous region.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Carsten can be found in the Bremische Chronik, a medieval chronicle from the city of Bremen, where a person named Karsten is mentioned in an entry dated 1341. The name also appears in various other historical documents and records from the region, such as the Lübecker Ratslinealbuch, a lineage book from the city of Lübeck, which includes entries from the 14th and 15th centuries.

The surname Carsten has undergone several spelling variations over the centuries, including Karsten, Karstens, and Carstens. These variations can be attributed to regional differences in dialect and pronunciation, as well as the influence of other languages spoken in the region, such as Low German and Danish.

Among the notable historical figures bearing the surname Carsten is Hans Carsten (1532-1612), a German theologian and professor of theology at the University of Rostock. Another prominent figure was Johann Friedrich Carsten (1700-1763), a German composer and organist who served as the Kapellmeister to the court of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

In the 18th century, Johann Christian Carsten (1735-1791) was a German jurist and author who served as a judge and wrote several legal treatises. A century later, Peter Carsten (1835-1908) was a Danish-born American architect who designed several notable buildings in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Another notable individual with the surname Carsten was Berta Carsten (1857-1928), a German writer and women's rights activist who published several works of fiction and non-fiction, advocating for women's education and equality.

While the surname Carsten has its roots in northern Germany, it has since spread to other parts of Europe and beyond through migration and intermarriage. However, its origins can be traced back to the rocky regions of medieval Germany, where the earliest bearers of this name likely lived and worked.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Carsten

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Carsten.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Carsten was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Carsten has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Carsten was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Carsten, please contact us.

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